When Friends Become Family
by Orange H
Summary: That moment when you realize that Haruhi really only has her dad, and if something happened to him...oh, whoops, something did. Basically, something bad happens to Mr. Fujioka and, to put it mildly, the Host Club has to help Haruhi through it. I suck at summaries, sorry. Rated T for safety (probably unnecessary). Probably going to turn into a HaruhiXTamaki story. Reviews welcomed.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **

**I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Good thing, too, because I can't draw for my life (especially anime!). **

**So. Struck by a lightning bolt of inspiration. I'm actually typing another fanfic at this moment, too, but I've got writer's block (there's a first time for everything, right?), so I figured I'd try my hand at this. Now, something important: don't admonish me if my facts from the story (or spellings of the names, I'm not Japanese by any definition) don't work with the facts I present in my story here. I'm only on chapter 41 right now (I'm waiting for it to load, it's taking forever), so I'm doing the best I can here. I'm not entirely sure how this is going to turn out, I'm just ~going with the flow~ so if you guys have got ideas, feel free to leave them in the review section (with a review, of course!). Wish me luck. Read, enjoy, and review. **

**Here we go. **

Chapter 1

"Tamaki-senpai, do we _really _have to wear these costumes? I mean, I've gotten used to the normal cosplay, but... this is absolutely ridiculous." Haruhi looked down in dismay at her bunny costume, and around at the others dressed in disguises of various other animals deemed 'adorable' by Hunny. It had been his birthday last week, but as there was a bombardment of tests that everyone had had to study for, no one had the time to properly celebrate, and thus the small third-year got to choose the costumes for today as a special gift from the host club. (Of course everyone else had gotten him other presents as well, but he was a rather hard little boy to disappoint).

Still waiting for an answer, Haruhi looked up at the king. "Senpai...?" She stepped slowly away from the president of the host club who was looking at her in her bunny costume as if she were a...a... Haruhi didn't even know. Another one of those weird looks that Tamaki got whenever he was in his fantasy-land. [Right now, unbenknownst to anyone but himself, Tamaki was daydreaming about he and Haruhi hopping about in a field of lilacs and having a picnic with her dressed up in her bunny costume, a homemade lunch awaiting them while she fed him]. Haruhi rolled her eyes at Tamaki, walked away from the high-fiving twins (having finally gotten her into the bunny suit) and towards Hunny.

"I hope you're happy," she said with a somewhat hopeless smile, which quickly turned into a frown as she noticed Mitsukuni wasn't in a costume himself. "Hey, why aren't you dressed up?"

Hunny chuckled. "Are you kidding me? Those outfits, however cute they might be, are totally ridiculous..." They all glared at him, and he made a quick save- "...to eat cake with. The crumbs would get all over the fabric."

"It's not like we'd need to wash them, anyway. We never cosplay with the same theme more than once", Haruhi sighed, looking around at the Host Club. Besides her in her bunny costume, everyone else (even Kyouya) had dressed up. So as not to inflict the wrath of such a martial arts master, Kyouya was wearing a fox suit, Tamaki was wearing a puppy suit, the twins were two siamese cats, and Mori was a bear cub. All of the costumes uniquely suited each personality type, and Hunny had loved picking them all out. The Host Club, much to the satisfaction of Kyouya, got a lot of business that day, and a lot of satisfied customers promising to return. Everyone was just cleaning up the last of the decorations (they had taken the costumes off as soon as the ladies had left, much to the sadness of Hunny [Mori had kept his on to please him]) when Kyouya got a phone call. Looking at the caller ID, he frowned.

"That's odd..."

"What is it, Kyouya?" Tamaki asked, gliding over to see who it was. Not recognizing the number, he turned and went back to helping Haruhi wash the tea dishes (something not completely necessary with the maids all around, but Tamaki's new 'commoner obsession' [as the twins had dubbed it] was commoner chores).

"It's one of our family-owned hospitals..." Kyouya murmured, not loud enough for anyone to hear. He picked up the phone, and leaned back with one hand in one pocket and looking towards the ceiling as he usually did when talking on the phone. "Hello, this is Kyouya Otori speaking. Is everything all right?"

Murmurs on the other side of the telephone. Suddenly, Kyouya's hand shot out of his pocket and up to his forehead, and he stood straight up, his eyes alight with confusion and something that resembled...anger? Sadness? The club couldn't make it out, but everyone's head snapped up at his loud, "What happened?"

More murmurs, and Kyouya nodded, even though the person on the other end couldn't see. "What is it?" Tamaki whispered to Kyouya, trying not to be distracting and failing. The boy on the phone waved the King, off, who went to go clutch Haruhi's sleeve and whimper, "Daughter, Mommy's being mean to Daddy." Haruhi, however, wasn't paying attention to her senpai- she was instead focused on Kyouya and his conversation with someone who was apparently delivering some very bad news, indeed.

She didn't know just how bad it was going to get.

"Yes. Yes. I've got it. Yes, I will. I'll tell her. Thanks." Kyouya hung up.

Haruhi's blood ran cold, and Tamaki stopped his whining and looked up at her with concerned eyes. All movement in the room had ceased- the Hitachiin twins looked up from their sweeping, brooms frozen in hand. Hikaru especially was looking at Haruhi with worry, and Hunny's big eyes were focused, along with Mori's analyzing ones, on Haruhi's reaction.

Because Kyouya had said that he would tell 'her'. There was only one 'her' in the room, and by now everyone had gotten who was calling. The Otori family had a huge investment in medical staff.

The hospital was calling for Haruhi. And that meant only one person.

Kyouya fixed his glasses, eyes closed, thinking, analyzing how to best resolve this. Because, in the end, it wasn't something that could be resolved. He sighed deeply, and then looked up to Haruhi.

"What did he get himself into this time?" Haruhi asked, trying to keep a calm voice but her eyes betraying the panic and absolute fear she was feeling for her father. Of course, he worked at a gay bar at night, so he had gotten a couple of scratches and bruises from some nearby bar fights, but...nothing from the hospital... and with Kyouya's look on his face, that face that no matter what the situation never betrayed the slightest hint of any emotion that could be mistaken as caring...it was bad.

"Haruhi, I'll explain it in the car. There's no time to lose. Mori-senpai, you and Hunny were just about to leave for home?"

The two nodded solemnly. "You can take our car", Hunny said. Kyouya nodded.

"Good. I'll get a last-minute police escort from our force."

A couple of phone calls later, they all were already sprinting down the halls of Ouran and into the waiting car. Haruhi was afraid she would fall several times. Her legs felt so weak. She couldn't handle this. Her dad was all she had left. If he wasn't there for her... a single tear flew away from her cheek as she ran so fast that by the time it hit the ground, she was already far away.

No one questioned the whole of the club coming. They were Haruhi's family, now...in more ways than one, depending on how bad Haruhi's dad's condition was. Quickly they had all informed their servants and parents that they would be home late, and as they all piled into the car Kyouya started explaining, summarizing everything over the wail of the police escort.

"Your dad was on his way home from work. It was dark out, and a drunk driver came swerving around the corner."

Haruhi tensed, and Tamaki moved closer and took her hand for support. Hikaru, on the other side, did the same. Haruhi clasped back with strength enough to make both of them lose some circulation in their hands, but none of them noticed over Kyouya's story.

"There was a woman and her young daughter walking around the corner. Your dad was on the sidewalk when they started crossing the street. Out of nowhere, the drunk driver came swerving around the corner. He would have easily killed the woman and the child, both, but...you dad jumped out and saved them."

Haruhi choked back a sob. "Is he..." she couldn't finish.

Kyouya shook his head. "The woman called the police, but by the time they got there he had lost so much blood that he was unconscious. He was in a coma when they called, but his condition is extremely critical, and..."

"And what?" Kaoru asked for Haruhi, who was too paralyzed with fear to be able to speak.

"There's a 90% chance that he won't make it."

Haruhi shoved her face into Tamaki's shoulder, willing herself not to cry, though her body shook from the effort. The King looked down at her sadly, so sadly, and stroked her short hair while wrapping an arm around her. Hikaru continued holding her hand, and the others all looked on with different expressions. Kyouya, with pity breaking through his uncaring mask- Kaoru and Hikaru with the sadness from seeing their closest friend besides each other suffer- Mitsukuni with distant eyes, in another world, unable to comprehend Haruhi's pain, and Mori (still mostly trying to be a reassuring presence to Hunny) was looking at Haruhi with those eyes that said so much more than his voice did. Tamaki closed his eyes against Haruhi's hair, just trying to block out the world except for them to try and get them through the last two minutes until they arrived at the hospital.

* * *

They all dashed through the halls, towards the room Kyouya had reserved in the back for Mr. Fujioka (hospitals aren't supposed to have VIP rooms, but it was the Otori family, after all). Haruhi in the lead, she was the first to burst through the swinging doors...

And into a world that she never wanted to experience. The nurses all turned around slowly, sadly, as Haruhi's heart stopped at the sight of a figure her dad's height and shape- the figure, impossibly, of her father- motionless, a sheet pulled over the face.

No. No. This wasn't happening. This c_ouldn't. _Be happening.

Her legs gave out, just in time for Tamaki to catch her as the others ran into the room and saw the same sight. She started sobbing uncontrollably, not caring whether or not the whole Host Club was watching her break down. Her father...

Well, the flat line on the monitor said it all.

Tamaki took her into his arms and carried her out into the hallway and sat down on a large bench, along with the rest of the club. No one's eyes were dry, not even Kyouya's with his exceptional breeding in the art of apathy. The twins and Hunny joined Tamaki to embrace Haruhi, trying to comfort her. Mori eventually joined in too, when Hunny started crying along with Haruhi, and for perhaps the first time the Hitachiin twins' tears weren't fake. Just sadness, sadness and death, surrounding everyone in the room, as Haruhi lost the only family member she had left.

* * *

After some while, a nurse came out. She was regular height with blonde hair and a sad look on her face. Haruhi tried to stand up to talk to her, but found she didn't trust her legs. The nurse shook her head sadly as the whole club got up to follow Haruhi into the room. "I'm sorry, but only the direct family of Mr. Fujioka is allowed into the room right now." Haruhi went pale. There was no way she would be able to do this alone. The rest of the club sat back down patiently, but Tamaki remained standing. The nurse shot him a dirty look. "It says here his only direct family is Ms. Haruhi Fujioka."

"I'm coming with her."

The nurse eyed him, and then her, and then him again, and shrugged and led them back into the hospital room. Tamaki helped Haruhi walk over to a chair, never letting go of her hand, his heart breaking at the pain and nothingness written all over Haruhi's face.

"Are they still here?" Haruhi asked dully, in a voice completely dead. Tamaki flinched at how much pain and suffering was behind her eyes, all shut away to try and deal with this situation that could have never been imagined.

"Yes. The mother took her daughter home but came back. She's actually in that chair, right there." The nurse pointed to a woman in the corner of the room, who got up and hesitantly tried to approach Haruhi. She seemed to eye Tamaki and ask for permission. He gave none, though he didn't reject her- he couldn't act as Haruhi's father when her real one was now lying dead under a sheet. So,the woman inched forward and eventually put a hand on Haruhi's shoulder.

"I- I just want you to know that your father is the hero of my daughter, my husband, and myself. If it weren't for him, little Clara and I would be... well, neither of us would be here. Your father saved our lives, and for that we are eternally grateful and will do whatever we can do in our power to help you."

Haruhi nodded. "Thank you. And I know what you're probably thinking and feeling right now. You're probably thinking that I'm mad at you for being then and there, and you're probably feeling pretty guilty about the circumstances, too."

The woman looked down and nodded. Tamaki squeezed Haruhi's hand, unsure of what she was doing.

"Don't be."

The woman looked up, surprised. "What's you and your daughter's name? How old is she?"

"I-I'm Nancy Harrison, and my daughter's name is Clara. We moved here from America a little while ago. She's five now."

Five.

Five.

That hit Haruhi like a blow unlike any other. She was glad she was already sitting, because her knees would've given out again.

"Ah. Well, then, I'm really very happy for you, and on behalf of my father, you're welcome. You see, I lost my mom to a drunk driver when I was five years old."

Nancy's eyes widened impossibly, and Tamaki put an arm around Haruhi and squeezed sadly.

"Oh..." Nancy said sadly. Then she looked up, troubled. "Wait... your mother's dead too?"

A flash of pain through Haruhi's eyes and an evil look from Tamaki made the woman realize that A) she probably shouldn't have said that in a room with a girl's father also lying dead, and B) she was now an orphan. Because if this man wasn't even the direct family of the man that had saved her and her daughter...then Haruhi was all alone.

And she was.

The nurse tried to talk again, but Nancy said good-bye first. "Here's my number, honey. Don't hesitate to call if you need anything at all."

"Thanks", Haruhi said dully as Nancy handed her a napkin with her number scrawled on it. She shoved it in her pocket and asked the nurse,

"And the drunk driver?"

"It was a hit-and-run. The police got his license and his address. They're bringing him to the hospital before they take him in- they should be here in about a half an hour or so."

"That's not how police usually do it..." Tamaki muttered, before remembering that Kyouya probably got his family's private police force on the case. The drunk driver had no chance of escape.

"Now, there are some things that need to be addressed", the nurse said kindly. "I'm sure your dad's lawyer will get in touch with you shortly-" She paused while Haruhi stifled another wave of tears.

"We don't have a lawyer. We haven't had one since Mom died. She was our lawyer, and dad said that no one could ever do it right like she did. But I can probably sort that out, I suppose [remember, she did go to Ouran to become a lawyer]."

The nurse nodded sadly. "And that'll also take care of the body. I'll leave you alone for a little while to pay your respects. Other than that, there's really not much the hospital can do."

Haruhi nodded. As the nurse was leaving, Haruhi asked, "Did he- did he say anything?"

The nurse nodded. "Right as we got to him he lost consciousness, but before that he said... 'Tell her I love her.'"

The nurse left, and Tamaki tried to comfort a lost little girl enveloped in a world of misery and pain.

* * *

Soon, the Host Club all came piling in through the doors to say their last good-byes to Mr. Fujioka. They all reminisced about the few times they had spent with him, admiring how much he cared about his daughter (shown by all the times he secretly stalked her [ex. the grocery store, Lobellia Girls' Academy, etc.] but no one from the Host Club mentioned that), how he had always been so firm in what he believed in, what he wanted to be, and what he was, and how he had always tried his hardest at everything. Inside, each member of the Host Club had a little moment with Haruhi's dad that made them admire him a little, and they all thought of those moments silently. Tamaki especially had a sort of one-way conversation with Mr. Fujioka, thanking him for all he had done to raise Haruhi, silently paying his respects, and in the end just one thought:

_Don't worry. I'll take care of her. _

Of course, Haruhi wanted some alone time with her dad before they took him to the morgue. Everyone filed out, and as Tamaki shut the door behind them, she found herself alone in a room with her dad's lifeless body before her. More tears slipped out as she started speaking.

"Hey, Dad."

For the first time ever, he didn't respond.

* * *

About ten minutes later, after she had said good-bye to her father and bid him to meet her mother up in heaven, she slowly trudged out of the hospital room. Much to her surprise, everyone was still there. Hunny was nearly asleep in Mori's arms, his bunny Usa slightly stained by his tears shed in sorrow. Kyouya's expression had almost gone back to its unwavering state, but as he looked at Haruhi a slight tint of pity and sympathy came back, reflected through his glasses. Hikaru and Kaoru looked up at her in unison with uncomprehending eyes, holding hands for comfort. Mori was of course occupying his time with comforting Hunny, but his body language made it obvious that he was just as sad as the rest of them. Tamaki was pacing the hall anxiously and his head snapped up when Haruhi came out, his eyes ablaze with sadness and sympathy and something of anger at fate. He slowly walked over to her and gave her a hug, and Hikaru and Kaoru rose in sync and joined. Hunny jumped out of Mori's arms and ran over, while the tall dark-haired protector followed. Kyouya watched and eventually walked over and placed a hand on Haruhi's shoulder. Haruhi couldn't stand anymore, so Tamaki picked her up like a small child sadly.

"Ha-Haruhi?" Mitsukuni asked sadly, quietly, concern heavy in his voice. She looked up (or, rather, down) at the small boy as Tamaki carried her over to the bench again.

"Yes...Hunny?"

"I know that it's probably not much consolation at a time like this, but...I just wanted you to know...that no matter what happens, we're still your family, and we're all here for you", he said in a small voice. Everyone nodded their agreement, even Kyouya, and Tamaki squeezed Haruhi.

She rubbed her eyes. "Thanks guys...that means a lot..."

Kyouya pushed his glasses back and looked at Haruhi apprehensively. "Haruhi, I did some research on you when you first joined the Host Club, and I noticed... you don't have any other family on either side."

The whole Host Club froze and looked at Haruhi again, who just shook her head in confirmation, and said in a small voice, "...what am I going to do? I don't have anywhere to go... I'll have to go to a children's home or something..."

"Absolutely not," chorused the Club firmly.

Haruhi looked up in surprise. "Wha...?"

"You can stay at our house until you figure out what to do", Hunny offered, and Mori nodded in agreement.

"Our ours, if you'd like. You could have a huge wardrobe selection, and our house is a little closer to Ouran", the twins said in unison.

"I'm sure that I could arrange something for your situation. In the meantime, my father certainly wouldn't mind you staying at our mansion while we sorted everything out," even Kyouya offered generously.

"...We'd be honored to have you stay at our mansion as long as you would like," Tamaki whispered in her ear in a sincere voice.

Haruhi's eyes watered up. Never before had she had friends so kind and genuine... willing to help her through so much. She nodded in gratitude, trying to decide whose house (or, rather, mansion) she'd select.

But she already knew. She would stay with the person she needed most right now. The one who knew her better than anyone else, even if they didn't know it.

"I- I-" she swallowed, trying to get the words out. "Uh, thank you very much for your offers, everyone. I'm honored that you would all allow me to live with you until we...until I get things sorted out with my dad, but I think I'll stay at Tamaki-senpai's mansion for now. If nothing else, it's the closest to the school, and I've already met his dad, so I don't think he'll mind too much, I hope."

The club nodded, all realizing the other reason for her decision. Tamaki was the only member of the Host Club to have lost a parent in any way, something that Haruhi desperately needed to relate to right now. And Tamaki would protect her.

He nodded solemnly. "I'll call our housekeeper and let her know that the Suoh family has a guest. I'll send for a car, too." As he went to make his call, the others also called their drivers for a ride home. Kyouya was the first to return.

"I've made arrangements for some of my people to carefully bring your things to Tamaki's place. I thought that it would be a bit... premature to go back to your apartment just yet. Is that okay?"

Haruhi nodded thankfully. "Thank you very much, Kyouya."

He returned the nod and placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to ask." Haruhi gave him a weak smile as the others returned. They sat down on the bench in silence until their rides all came, a line of metal beetles as black as the night and the death inside of it.

* * *

Haruhi clambered into the car with Tamaki as he gave their chauffeur instructions to take them home. It had started drizzling, and the two were a bit damp from their walk to the car. After a couple of minutes of driving, Tamaki noticed he was still holding onto Haruhi's hand. A bit awkwardly he tried to retract it, but found that she had his hand in an iron grip, and that her small body was shaking slightly from the effort not to cry.

"Oh, Haruhi..." he said sadly, pulling her head onto her shoulder and brushing back her bangs to kiss her lightly on the forehead. She pressed herself against him, the tears finally spilling over like the pouring rain outside. He held her close while she tried to deal with the act that she had just lost her last (and possibly closest) remaining relative.

A flash of light..._BOOM. _

Haruhi cried out and pushed herself even closer against Tamaki, whimpering. He took off his coat and put it over her own (she still hadn't changed out of Ouran's uniform), and hugged her tighter, looking up and cursing the sky. The worst possible time for a thunderstorm.

He held the shivering Haruhi all the way home.

* * *

When they got to the mansion, he took her in his arms and ran inside as fast as he could, trying to shield her from the rain. He burst through the doors and immediately his maids ushered them up to their rooms, but when they tired to show Haruhi to her own guest bedroom she ran back to Tamaki with pleading eyes full of terror.

"Please don't leave me, senpai."

He nodded and had the maids bring them to his room, instead. They had been informed that Haruhi was, in fact, a girl, and brought dry clothes and a pair of pajamas to her and Tamaki (his were men's, of course). The maids set up to changing dividers and they both quickly started changing into new clothes, knowing they wouldn't be able to sleep. For now, the thunderstorm had stopped...or...

_BOOM. _

Haruhi dropped to the floor and curled up into a ball halfway through changing, whimpering. Immobilized by fear, she put her arms over her head and tried to block out the sound.

"Haruhi?" Tamaki asked with concern, knowing how petrified she was by thunder and lightning. "You okay?"

_BOOM. _

Her whimpering grew louder, and Tamaki grew more concerned. "Haruhi?"

_BOOM, BOOM. _

"I'm coming over there, okay?" he asked and cautiously peeked around the divider to find Haruhi halfway through changing and cowering on the floor. She had her pants on, but her belt was still on the floor and her shirt still sopping. Some part of Tamaki realized that he himself wasn't wearing a shirt, but he didn't really care. Instead, he went over to Haruhi to try and help her through the thunderstorm.

"Shhh, it's all right", he said soothingly. She was freezing, shivering so hard it looked like she was having a seizure, her teeth chattering so loud Tamaki was surprised they hadn't chipped yet. She couldn't get a cold, she had to get her damp clothes off...but she was too petrified to move. Tamaki sighed at what he was about to do, but it didn't matter anymore.

He grabbed her belt on the ground and helped her run it through her belt loops, somewhat awkwardly. Even under the circumstances, Tamaki noticed how slim and petite her waist was when he slid the belt through.

The thunder became even more frequent with no sign of letting up, and Haruhi could barely breathe from fright. Still, Tamaki couldn't let her just sit on the floor sopping wet, so he gently pulled her shirt off. She shivered slightly from the cold, and he gave her a nearby towel to quickly dry off with. She started to dry herself off, but another marathon of thunder and lightning paralyzed her even more, so Tamaki ended up trying to dry her off as best as he could with her curled up in a ball. It then became blatantly obvious to him that Haruhi was topless in his bedroom with only her bra on, and as his cheeks lit up like a wildfire he threw the towel aside and desperately fumbled for her dry shirt. He tried to shove it over her shoulders, but ended up only hitting her head.

"Oww..." she muttered from her position on the floor, turning around to try and give him an evil look before the thunder started again.

"Sorry..." he apologized as he desperately tried to keep from looking any lower than her face. Together they managed to get her dry shirt on, and he ran back to his side of the dividers to put on his, too. The storm had suddenly stopped, and as he went back to Haruhi to check if she was all right, he buttoned up the last button on his shirt and found her sitting on his bed, her damp clothes neatly stacked on the floor and the divider folded up next to them.

"I'm sorry you had to see that..." she muttered. "And...uh...do that..."

"No, that's fine", he said reassuringly. "I don't mind."

She looked at him funny, and he realized what he had said. "Uh, I mean...that is, I don't mind seeing you like that...I mean, I don't mind helping you...I mean... I'm not a pervert, I swear!"

Haruhi laughed weakly, tiredly, but a laugh all the same. Tamaki smiled to see its dim effect light up her face momentarily. "You mean you don't mind helping me through the thunderstorm?"

"Yeah, that's it", he said affectionately, rustling her damp hair.

"Next time, though, senpai, just call a maid. There are about ten of them out there, you know, and they're all female."

Tamaki blushed again and looked away. "Right. Of course. Hadn't thought of that."

They sat awkwardly on his bed for a moment or two, and then...

_ding dong_

The bell to enter Tamaki's room rang, and entered...

Five other boys, all dressed in their pajamas with sleeping bags and pillows.

_What? _Haruhi thought at the sight of them.

"Sleepover", Mori explained briefly.

"Yeah, milord said you'd need moral support, and we wanted to come anyway, so we're all having what you commoners call a 'sleepover'. We've even brought the traditional 'sleeping bags', though we don't understand how these are supposed to have as much support as a mattress", the twins said in unison.

Haruhi blinked at all of her friends, ready to tough out the night on the floor to support her. She smiled weakly, and looked over at Kyouya. "Even you, Kyouya?"

"Well, to be honest", he said pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "I was dragged into this. Still, it'll be an interesting experience, and I'm glad to help in any way I can."

Haruhi nodded wearily. "Thanks."

Tamaki hopped down from the bed to help his friends set up their sleeping bags. "Hey, Haruhi, the maids put your pajamas where you left your clothes. The bathroom's at the end of the hall to the left, if you want to change. You're probably tired." She nodded, took the pajamas, and went to change as the Host Club all turned to Tamaki with accusing stares.

"Where you _left your clothes?_"

"Pervert."

"What?! No! It wasn't that!" Tamaki tried to explain frantically, his cheeks turning to fire. "I was just helping her through the thunderstorm! There were dividers when we were changing!"

"And were you _helping _her while she was changing?"

"Erm...well...yes..."

The twins got ready to jump Tamaki, but his eyes clouded over with the memory of a few minutes ago and they stopped. "She was so scared... and I don't think she was just scared of the thunderstorm..." They all looked at each other sadly, but before anyone could say anything else Haruhi came back in.

She was dressed in a regular nightshirt and sweatpants (both, of course, extremely expensive, however). [She had kept on her bra, because really, she was going to be sleeping, apparently, in a room of six other boys.] "And you guys are sure that you're going to be able to handle the floor _all night?_"

"Pssht", the twins snickered. "I think we can handle it. We are _men_, after all."

* * *

"Yeah, _men_", Haruhi said without amusement as she observed all the boys crowded onto Tamaki's bed, snoring. Apparently, the floor was unsupporting, hard, and smelled like feet. Go figure. She sighed as she pulled a cover over herself on the sofa in Tamaki's room that was actually bigger than her bed at home. She remembered earlier in the first couple of minutes that the boys had toughed out the floor.

"Hey, Tamaki-senpai", Haruhi had said in surprise, "your floor is actually more comfortable than my bed at home..." This statement had evoked that look of 'commoner pity' from the rest of the club, which Haruhi had returned with a glare. Shortly after, they had all given up and retreated to Tamaki's bed with their sleeping bags, insistent on retaining _some _commoner sleepover spirit. Haruhi gave a small chuckle before the frown returned to her lips and the piercing sadness to her heart. As she looked out the window in Tamaki's bedroom at the moon, she remembered stargazing a few years ago with her dad...

_"And that's the little dipper, and that's the big dipper, and that's Orion's belt..." Haruhi's dad said with excitement, pointing out every constellation visible in the sky. _

_"Daddy, how do you know so much about the stars?" Haruhi had asked in amazement. She was still at the age where everything her dad did was amazing, absolutely fantastic. _

_"Well, honey, I took an astronomy class in college. I might've become an astronomer, actually." _

_Haruhi cocked her head. "Daddy, what's 'college'?" _

_Her dad laughed, and then his eyes became slightly misted over and he ruffled her hair. "Somewhere you can wait as long as you want to get to. Just keep on being daddy's little girl, and you'll be fine."_

It was the little things. The simple things, just like that, that Haruhi would miss. Having her dad always burn dinner. When he would follow her to the supermarket to carry her basket for her. Freaking out over missing open house. Stressing out over what to wear every day, and how he would do his hair. And, suddenly, it came crashing down on her that she would never see these things ever again, that all those little dad-isms were lost forever.

Her father was dead.

The realization struck her for the second time that day, but this time was far more devastating. This time, she had already accepted the truth as real, that unbearable truth- it was now inevitable, impossible to avoid. She wasn't daddy's girl anymore. She would never be daddy's girl again.

_Mmmm_, thought Tamaki, rolling over in his sleeping bag. He snuggled in deeper to try and go back to sleep, when he saw Haruhi on the couch...sobbing quietly to herself. He quietly unzipped his sleeping bag and walked over to her. He gently lifted the sheet she was clutching to herself and picked her up, cradling her as he lie down on the couch, pulling the sheet back over them, comforting his close friend on the (surprisingly large) couch while she cried herself to sleep. Just before they drifted off to sleep, close together, she heard him whisper,

"I'll always be here for you, Haruhi."

**Well, that was a long first chapter! I'm sorry, I know that it kind of sucked, but I've got a better idea of how to write the next couple of chapters...hopefully... aaaanyway, let's hope this gets better -_- It's probably going to turn into a Haruhi and Tamaki story, but hey, one of my new OTPs :). The next chapter is probably going to be Haruhi trying to figure out what to do next. Please review. Any opinions are appreciated. Love you all, darlings ~ I'll try to update soon. **


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: **

**I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Good thing, too- I can't draw for my life, especially anime!**

**Read, enjoy, and review :). **

Chapter 2

The gentle sunlight streamed through the windows of Tamaki's bedroom, a small sliver falling across the sleeping Haruhi. She scrunched her eyes against the light, but eventually got up and accepted that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, anyway. She saw a silhouette of a tall figure against the light. Yawning slightly, Haruhi tried to get up, and realized she was on the couch with Tamaki, his arm still draped around her... and she was holding his hand. She let it go slowly and took his arm off her without waking him, got up, recovered him with the sheets, put his teddy-bear in his arms (she smiled slightly at how he and Hunny still slept with stuffed animals in senior high school), and walked over to the figure.

The reflection of the young man's glasses on the curtains made the light yellow color seem unusually bright, even with its darker orange rim. He adjusted his glasses and kept on staring at the window with his hands clasped behind his back. He was still dressed in his nightclothes- loose pajama bottoms (no doubt made with an extremely expensive fabric) and a v-neck top of the same material that just barely showed Kyouya's slightly muscular chest. Haruhi stood by the window next to him and yawned again. "Hey, Kyouya-senpai", she said softly. "I thought you weren't an early riser. From what the others told me, in the morning you're the most dangerous land mammal on Earth or something."

"Yes, well, I can be rather unpleasant when Tamaki wakes me up at six in the morning on a weekend to go on another 'commoner adventure', as he usually does."

Haruhi nodded. "So, what are you doing up so early?"

"Several reasons. One, I didn't get much sleep last night anyway- ...though I see you and Tamaki slept just fine", he observed with amusement, and Haruhi blushed slightly. "Two, it's very bright in here. And, three, I know from my frequent talks with your father that you're an early riser, as well."

Haruhi looked up at the tall, dark-haired second-year. "Uh, yeah...I suppose I am...why?"

"Well, as I mentioned last night, I'm happy to help in any way I can, and I suppose... this is my way of helping..." Kyouya looked down at Haruhi with a tint of kindness in his eyes, a small smile ghosting across his face.

_Wow, _Haruhi thought. _I can actually see him as a human being when he smiles, instead of just an evil banker for the Host Club. He's actually got quite a nice smile. _

"Let's discuss this over in those chairs, where we won't wake the others", Kyouya suggested, gesturing to a group of chairs at the other end of the room about twenty meters away. _Stupid rich kids_, Haruhi thought as she walked the whole length from one end of the room to the other, bigger than the apartment that she had owned with her dad back home.

"So", he said, adjusting his glasses once more and resting his fingertips together, his elbows on the arms of the chair and his legs crossed like a true businessman. "As I'm sure you're aware of - as you probably encountered in your studies to become a lawyer at Ouran - there are some things that require your attention as the only living relative of your father."

Haruhi nodded, and he continued. "Of course there's the will, and the services of your father's funeral, along with the... oh, how to put this delicately... the manner in which the body will be, ah... _sent away_. Any debts that your father left will, unfortunately, be passed on to you, so we'll see about that later. I'm glad to be of any assistance in these matters, should you need it."

"Thanks_, _Kyouya-senpai", Haruhi said gratefully. "Dad has a pretty straightforward will because Mom always pestered him about it, and since he had such few things and money anyway, I doubt that will be a problem. We don't have a proper lawyer, but I'm sure I could hire one with the money dad left. The funeral is pre-planned; all I have to do is notify the right people and they'll help me with the planning. When Mom died, Dad took it upon himself to make sure if anything happened to him, it would be as easy as possible on me, so all of that stuff is taken care of- as well as his delivery to the crematorium shortly. I'm not sure about the debts, I'll have to ask his friends and the landlord about stuff like that, but in short I should be able to figure most of that stuff out. Thanks, though, senpai. If I need help, I'll ask."

Kyouya nodded, and the touch of sensitivity returned to his eyes. "Now, most importantly..."

_Hmm? I thought that covered everything_, Haruhi thought.

"You."

_Oh. Right. Me. _

"As you have no living relatives", he said in a surprisingly gentle voice, "I'm sure that you're aware that you don't have anywhere to go. Legally, you should be turned over to child services to be placed in a foster home or an orphanage..." Haruhi cringed. "... but, naturally, that will occur over all of our dead bodies." She looked at him in surprise, and a tiny smile was playing on the edge of his lips. "Everyone in the Host Club has come to care for you far too much to allow you to be placed in such dreadful places...even myself, I suppose."

Haruhi looked up at her senpai in slight shock as he patted her head. _Was he... being sensitive?_

"Think of it this way, Haruhi. You're like a growth that we just can't get rid of."

She glared. There was the Kyouya she knew. He gave a small chuckle at her expression. "Calm down, Haruhi, I was just kidding." His face returned to its usual business look. "In all seriousness, though, we _do _have a situation here. The only other option I can see rather than you residing with one of us would be to go and live out in the country with Misuzu or Arai and his family, but I've already determined that you wouldn't accept those options as possible as you came to Ouran to become a lawyer in the first place, and moving to the country would keep you from attending the academy."

Haruhi nodded. "Yeah, there's no way that I'm leaving Ouran. How could I, now... you guys are the only family I have left..." she said softly, looking down as her eyes became slightly wet. She blinked back the tears as Kyouya put a hand over hers- a bold gesture for him, to say the least.

"So, then, that brings us to your deciding on who you are going to live with. Looking into your history, I see that, other than Misuzu and Arai- of whom we have already ruled out- you have no especially close friends with whom you could move in with... which brings us back in a circle to our current position, and our current offers." Haruhi nodded. "Now, every member of the Host Club, as you know, has offered to have you move in with them. That's Mitsukuni and Takashi- who both live in the same house, or rather, two houses that are so close and similar that they're practically the same, anyway- Hikaru and Kaoru- of course, in the same house, since they're brothers- myself, and Tamaki. Now, I know that there are a lot of factors besides logic in determining where you want to live for the rest of your high school career, but all the same it is important to rule out the pros and cons of each household."

Haruhi nodded as he continued: "First, there's Hunny and Mori. Pros: They're especially kind and would treat you especially nicely. Of course, there would be a wide variety of sweets-" Kyouya chuckled- "and it would be peaceful, to an extent. Cons: Since their families are highly invested in martial arts, there would probably be a good amount of training around the clock, and of course dinner would be fairly awkward as all of the Haninozukas would have to have a karate match just to ask each other to pass the peas." Haruhi smiled at the memory that whenever one of Hunny's family saw each other, they had to spar on the spot. Kyouya continued: "And then, outside factors:"

Haruhi waited for him to continue until she realized that he was looking pointedly at her. "Oh, me. Okay. Well, Hunny's super sweet and would definitely be an easy person to live with, and Mori wouldn't invade personal space. Of course, they're both third-years, so for the next two years I would be living in their house alone, except for Hunny's little brother, who I actually find kind of irritating."

Kyouya nodded. "So, then they're probably out."

"Yeah, I think so."

"Next up: the twins. Pros: of course, Mrs. Hitachiin is a famous fashion designer, so you'd never run out of fashionable clothes to wear on the weekend when you can dress like a girl, but at the same time the point would be moot as you'd be hanging around the richer people from school now, who would recognize you as they think you are- a boy. Of course, the boys live fairly close to the school as well. And then there's the final and by far most ideal factor, the fact that both of them are in the same class as you are, so you would be graduating at the same time. Cons:... no significant cons, actually. Outside factors:"

"Okay, uh", Haruhi thought for a second. "Well, their dad is kind of creepy and I never know if he's spying on me and I just can't see him... also, they're twins and there's only one of me, so I feel like I'd be getting pulled between them a lot, or else excluded. Also, they'd make me be their model all the time and I really hate trying on clothes..." The two thought.

"So, still considerably in the running", Kyouya decided, and Haruhi nodded in confirmation. "Very well then. That brings us to me, or the Ootori household. Now, I'm a bit biased here, but I'll try my best to be impartial. Pros: We've got a kotatsu. Cons: My father is an unpleasable control freak, my brothers are always so stuffy that just standing in a room with them makes you feel like you're suffocating, my sister always invades personal space and tries to rearrange wardrobes by pulling everything out and strewing it across the floor, and of course, the atmosphere is totally depressing. Outside factors:"

Haruhi just stared at him. "Outside factors," He repeated, but she just kept looking at him. He sat up. "What?"

"I thought you said that your opinion was biased."

"It is."

"I guess I just though that it would be biased in favor, not out of it."

Kyouya put on that charming smile he got every time he was about to say something to make your spine tingle. "Ha, most definitely not. I would never want to condemn you to life in my house. I was simply offering on behalf of my father, who's strangely attached to you."

"Oh."

Kyouya blinked, realizing he probably could have been more sensitive, especially at a time like this. "Don't get me wrong, Haruhi. I'm sure it would be an enjoyable experience of some sort to have you come live with us, and heaven knows it would probably be nice to have someone in the house besides my sister- who, technically, isn't supposed to be in our house anymore anyway- who doesn't expect the world of me, but the Ootori household's reputation is impeccable, and I'd never wish upon even my worst enemy the pressure and near scorn that my father gives me every day to try and uphold it. Long story short, I didn't tell you this, but _you really __**don't **__want to live in my house_."

Haruhi had to stifle back her laughter, and even Kyouya's eyes were slightly amused. "Well, I'm serious, but I suppose if you look at it that way it's kind of funny."

"That leaves Tamaki." Haruhi stopped laughing, and tried to be serious. "Right. Pros: Of course, Tamaki's family is as rich as mine, with a bit more maids. They live the closest to Ouran, and of course head it as well, which would probably put a little less stress on you for your scholarship here. Cons: Nothing considerable. There's a dog, Antoinette, who would probably jump all over you, but Tamaki's trained her pretty well. The housekeeper is a bit stingy...and creepy...anyway: Outside factors:"

"Well," Haruhi started, "You're right, the housekeeper is creepy. But I think Antoinette's cute, and I'm really close to Tamaki-senpai. Also, he's the only one...who really knows what it's like to deal with losing a parent..." Kyouya nodded at her logic.

"So basically, right now it's a tie between the Suoh and Hitachiin households." She nodded, thinking it over.

"Well, I don't know, really. I mean...in matters of practicality, I think the twins would be best, but then I'm really leaning a bit more towards Tamaki-senpai, so...I think I'll take the Suoh residence."

Kyouya nodded. "I had a feeling you'd say that. Last night, you had the choice between all of our houses to stay the night at, and again you chose Tamaki's. You two are, in fact, extraordinarily close, so it's really no surprise to me that you want to stay with him."

"Yeah, that makes sense", Haruhi mused. "I guess... now I just have to ask Mr. Suoh."

Kyouya adjusted his glasses. "There will be a little bit of paperwork to allow him to become your legal guardian, but I'll have my lawyers see to it, as well as help you with your father's paperwork."

"Oh." Haruhi blinked. "Uh, thanks."

"No problem", he said with satisfaction, and started heading back towards the sleeping boys. "And, Haruhi..."

"Hmm?"

"It's not really my thing, but... yeah, we're here for you."

Haruhi smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Kyouya-senpai."

He nodded, and Haruhi followed him back to Tamaki's bed area. She clambered back onto the sofa on the opposite side of Tamaki, exhausted, and watched in amusement as Kyouya started kicking Tamaki in his sleep.

"Come on Daddy, wake up. Time for Mommy to give you a taste of your own medicine. Oh, are you tired? Still sleepy? Too bad. Payback." Haruhi chuckled, and as she dozed off, Tamaki half-consciously flung himself back on Haruhi's side, whining, "Haruhi, Kyouya's being mean again...zzzzz..." And immediately lost consciousness once he was draping over Haruhi.

Kyouya just rolled his eyes at his best friend. _Do you want me to kick the idiot off for you? _He mouthed to Haruhi. "Nah, it's find senpai", she responded in a whisper. "Just let him sleep. If he's tired he'll whine all day, and it's not that uncomfortable. If you kick him off he'll just go cultivate mushrooms somewhere in a closet again."

He chuckled and shrugged, and went back to his sleeping bag after closing the curtains against the sun to try and catch a few more 'z's himself. And so they all dozed off, Haruhi wondering how she was going to ask Tamaki and his father the inevitable question of living in the same house.

And she closed her eyes to the uncertainty of the future.

**Hehe. I churned that out in about an hour. Normally I'd take another couple of days to update, but I actually got a surprising amount of reviews withing the first hour of posting the first chapter, so I decided to do another. I know this one was kind of bland, but I think the next one will be a little more exciting. And there were some funny moments in this one, too... not too bad for 4:30 AM... I should actually probably get to bed. Also meant to reveal a softer side of Kyouya, one of my favorite characters along with the Hitachiin twins. **

**So, we'll see how this goes! Pleasepleaseplease review! I'll try and update ASAP but I've got a pretty busy day tomorrow so no promises :(. Love you all~ **


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: **

**I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Good thing, too- I can't draw for my life, especially anime!**

**Hello, my sweets!~ My mom and I just got done talking about my unnatural sleeping habits. For those of you who actually read the closing last chapter, you'll know I got to bed around five- and then today I woke up at four...PM... hehe. Anyway, Mom was like, 'You can't be so nocturnal! You should sleep at night and be awake during the day! That's what normal people ****_do_****!" And I just paused at that and responded, "And you really think I'm normal." Lol. (Because I'm really, truly not. Normal's too boring.)**

**Anyway, here's chapter three. Thank you SO MUCH for all of the reviews, follows, and favorites I've been getting! And remember: if you like it enough to follow and/or favorite, you like it enough to leave a little review! Really. Three hours of typing this vs three minutes to review. Thank you, lovelies. Enjoy (and review!) :)**

Chapter 3

Haruhi opened her eyes to a bright light again. Apparently, someone had just opened the curtains, but she couldn't see who as her view was blocked by...

Haruhi looked up, startled, trying to make her tired eyes determine the identities of the two forms in front of her. Wait... two forms...same height... Haruhi yawned and mumbled, "Hikaru, Kaoru, morning."

"More like 'afternoon'", Hunny called from the other side of the room. "It's already eleven thirty."

"What?!" Haruhi jolted upright, shaking a sleeping Tamaki off her and onto the floor. "Oh, sorry Tamaki."

"We see you two slept well last night", the twins chorused suspiciously.

"Oh, come off it, you guys", Haruhi grumbled. She looked frantically around the room. "I'm going to be late for school! Ack, I'm going to _miss _school! I have a test today! And..." She stopped and scrutinized the rest of the Host Club. "Wait, what are you guys doing in my room?" She looked around some more. "Wait... no... this isn't my room... where on Earth am I?"

"You're in Tamaki's room, remember?" Kyouya said as he yawned and adjusted his glasses, a little bit of that 'dark lord in the morning' aura visible around him.

"WHAT." Haruhi's eyes grew wide. "WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING IN TAMAKI'S ROOM. AND WHY ARE YOU ALL HERE."

The twins straightened up before her, looking at each other with sad eyes. Then Haruhi remembered.

"Oh. Right..." She shook her head, trying to clear the tears that had sprung to her eyes. "But, still, what about school?"

"I called the school and all of our parents this morning and let them know that we'd be taking the day off..." when Haruhi's eyes betrayed her confusion, he continued rather uncomfortably, "...to, uh, help you..."

"Oh. Uh, thanks. So, no Host Club today?"

"Nope. Also..." Kyouya hesitated, trying to decide how to put his news. "I talked with my father, and... our force has the man who hit your father in custody."

Dead silence. At this point, even Tamaki was awake and looking at his friend with concern... but Haruhi felt nothing.

"Thanks..."

Kyouya waited for her to say more, and when she didn't, he asked the question that she didn't want to have to answer. "... would you like to see him?"

...

...

...

Haruhi thought, and didn't think. Everything and nothing was raging through her mind at once, and her brain felt like exploding. On one hand she wanted to tell this guy off (at the very least), and on the other she felt

like confronting him would only make it harder to deal with her father's loss, and of course there were so many other things, so many factors that made it so difficult to decide.

"I... I don't know, yet... can I think about it for another day?"

Kyouya nodded in understanding. "Sure. I'll tell my father to hold him for a little while longer. He'll pull some strings with the city to keep him in custody."

"So, what do you want to do now, Haru-Chan? We've got the whole day", Hunny asked, rubbing his eyes while Mori helped him stand up from the bed.

"Well...uh, I don't really know..." she turned to Tamaki, who was still rubbing his back from falling onto the floor. "Tamaki-senpai, what do you do around here for fun?"

"Well, let's see... I take Antoinette for walks... there's croquet out in the yard... we've got horses and a trail out in back, do you want to go horseback riding?"

"Sure, why not. Hey, do you know when your dad gets back?"

Tamaki cocked his head. "My dad? Typically he's on business trips, but he's home for the week, so he should be home around six, in time for dinner."

Tamaki's stomach growled, and he laughed. "Speaking of dinner got me hungry. Who's up for breakfa- ah, brunch?"

"I am!" Cheered the twins and Hunny. Mori shrugged indifferently and Kyouya adjusted his glasses, nodding. Haruhi smiled at them.

"We should probably get dressed", Kaoru mused.

"Do... do rich people do that?" Haruhi asked.

"Do what?" Hikaru wondered.

"Get dressed before breakfa- brunch."

They all stared at her. "What?" she asked, confused.

"You mean to tell me", Tamaki asked excitedly, "That commoners can just eat in their pajamas?!"

"Uh, yeah, sometimes. Look, forget about it, we should get dressed anyway. I forgot I wasn't at home."

"No, no, no! We absolutely must experience this 'pajama eating'!" Tamaki proclaimed. "I'll tell the chef to prepare food!" He dashed out of the room. Kyouya rolled his eyes, and the twins sniggered. Tamaki re-entered. "Okay, everyone!" He clapped his hands together in excitement. "They'll rush the food. It should be ready in ten minutes."

"...You've got a chef?"

They all stared at Haruhi again.

"Right, right. Rich people. Sorry."

They laughed.

* * *

Roughly fifteen minutes later, they were all seated at the table in their pajamas (much to the surprise of the maids), with the butlers carrying out the dishes. Haruhi was astounded at the amount of food there was, even with all seven of them eating. Nearly the whole table was full, and that was saying something, as it was extremely long and they had only been cooking for ten minutes.

"Our apologies about the small amount of food, young master," a maid bowed to Tamaki. "We need to go shopping today, and didn't anticipate guests."

"Oh, that's quite all right, Kazuka",Tamaki said with his brightest smile, making her flush and walk away with stars in her eyes.

"He even hosts to his maids", Haruhi muttered to herself.

"Dig in, everyone!" Tamaki said cheerfully, and the Host Club all piled heapings of bacon, ham, pancakes, pork, hashbrowns, sausages, salad, and other kinds of brunch foods onto their plates, while Hunny dug into his special-order three-layer angel cake with chocolate frosting.

A couple minutes later, everyone had started eating except for Haruhi. The twins looked over at her and asked, "Hey, Haruhi, aren't you going to eat something?" All eyes turned to her and a tint of pink came to her cheeks.

"Ah, no, I'm good for now."

"Would you like some of my cake?" Hunny asked hesitantly, obviously wanting to make her feel better but at the same time not have to give up any of his precious sweets.

"No thanks, Hunny-senpai, I'm not really hungry."

_gggrrrannnnnggghhhhhh_

The Host Club looked pointedly down the table at Haruhi's extremely loud, growling stomach and then back up at her flushed face.

"No, really," she told them, and looked menacingly toward her stomach, seeming to tell it more than her friends: "I'm _not hungry._"

_ggggrrrrrraaaaaannnnnnngggghhhhhh..._

"Haru-chan's having a conversation with her stomach!" Hunny squealed in glee. Haruhi laughed, trying ease everyone's stares.

"Haruhi." Mori said, giving her a look.

"Really, guys. I'm fine."

They all looked at each other, and decided to leave it alone and go back to their food. Haruhi let out a little breath of relief, which only Kaoru, sitting right next to her, noticed. He looked at her in concern, and under the table put a hand on hers. She looked up at him.

"It's okay to not be fine, you know", he said quietly, so only she could hear. She looked down, but nonetheless squeezed his hand tighter. He slowly returned his attention back to his pancakes and salad, their hands still intertwined under the table.

"I know."

* * *

They all walked back upstairs after brunch, full from the delicious meal. "That didn't taste any different than when we're not in our pajamas", Tamaki whined, looking at Haruhi.

"Of course it wouldn't, senpai. It's the same food, what you're dressed in doesn't change anything."

"Then why do commoners do it?"

"Because we're lazy and tired from work and don't want to get dressed right when we get up."

"Hmm, interesting theory", Tamaki thought aloud, and Haruhi rolled her eyes.

"So, what do you wear when you go horseback riding, anyway?" Haruhi wondered.

"Well, typically you wear some comfortable pants and a shirt, a riding jacket, high socks, boots, and of course a helmet", Hunny told her.

"..."

"Is something wrong, Haruhi?" Tamaki asked her.

"Well, of those things I only own the pants and a shirt, and either way I don't have any of my clothes now. They're back in the apartment that I share with Da..." They stopped and looked at her with sympathy. She swallowed. "... that I, uh, used to share with Dad."

"Well, my people will have your things delivered to you here soon, but for now I think Tamaki could lend you some clothes?" Kyouya offered, looking pointedly at Tamaki.

"Oh! Yes! Of course! It might be a little hard to find riding clothes for a girl, though, since none live here and our maids don't ride..."

"Senpai, I've been dressing like a boy at Ouran for how long now? I'm sure I'll be fine with boy's clothes."

"Ah, yes, of course. I'll have my maids bring up men's riding clothes for the two of us, then. I assume the rest of you already texted your butlers and had them bring your clothes?"

They all nodded, and as if on cue, the doorbell rang and the boys went to go get their clothes and Tamaki to ask his maid, leaving Haruhi alone momentarily outside her senpai's bedroom door. she opened it and found that the maids had already made the bed (and the sofa), and she walked over to some chairs and stared out the window before closing her eyes and letting a couple of tears slip out. These next couple of days were going to be especially hard, and she knew that she would never stop hurting when she thought of her dad. Another tear, and suddenly she felt a small boy wrap his arms around her and give her a hug.

Her eyes shot open to see the rest of the Host Club around her, looking at her with concern, and Hunny hugging her, his bunny Usa in the arms of Mori.

"Jeez, guys! You're like ninjas! Don't sneak up on me like tha-"

"Haruhi..." she looked over at Tamaki, his eyebrows creased together in worry and his forehead crinkling.

"What?"

He leaned forward and wiped a tear from her cheek with a thumb, and she quickly wiped her eyes. "Nothing, guys. I'm fine." She lightly got up, Hunny still attached to her, and patted his head to let him know he could release, which he did hesitantly and then took back Usa from Mori. "Really, I am."

"You know, if you need some alone time..." Kyouya said quietly, and a small flash of panic lit up Haruhi's eyes.

"No!" They looked at her, even more concerned now. "Uh, I mean, no thanks."

"Ooo...kaay," the twins said in unison, and they all slowly dissipated to go change into their riding gear.

Haruhi sighed. No, she didn't want to be alone. She _couldn't _be alone. Because then she'd only have her thoughts to keep her company, and that was very dangerous, indeed. Because, right now, her thoughts could drag her into a very deep and dark place that she couldn't afford to go to... and of course, they weren't thoughts that she wanted to have in any situation. Because they just brought reality back, and reality was sometimes too harsh to deal with.

Tamaki silently handed her some riding clothes, concern still creasing his brow. Haruhi thanked him and briskly walked outside to get changed in the bathroom down the hall.

* * *

As they all walked out to the stables, showered and changed, Haruhi took some time to appreciate the size of the Suoh estate. _I might be living here soon_, Haruhi thought, astounded, and realized that she wouldn't be a commoner anymore. How odd.

Tamaki was rambling something or other about their horses- probably telling the Club all their names- but Haruhi wasn't really listening. Her attention was instead focused on a trainer in a ring with a fiesty stallion, chesnut with grey speckles. The trainer was a young woman, in her twenties or so, and she seemed to be having a hard time controlling the horse. The group neared the ring where the two were training, and Tamaki gave a little background.

"Yes, handsome, isn't he, Haruhi?"

She looked over at him. "Very much so, senpai. Is he new in the stable?"

"Yep. We just got him last week. He's very spirited, that's why my dad bought him. Unfortunately, not a single one of our trainers has been able to get through to him. We've had to start hiring people from out of Japan to try and tame him. If we can't, dad will either have to sell him or put down. He doesn't have a name yet."

Haruhi watched with interest as the horse became more and more feisty. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the horse started to back its trainer to the wall and started to rear.

Haruhi didn't think, just jumped through the bars on the fence and started running. "Hey!" she called out to the horse, trying to distract its attention, ignoring the shouts from behind her.

_Why am I doing this? It's dangerous. The trainer probably knows how to handle rearing horses. I should stop. Why aren't I stopping?_

Haruhi ignored her thoughts, too, and kept shouting at the horse. It turned away from the woman backed into the corner and pawed the ground, then charged at Haruhi.

_Crud. _

Haruhi tried to turn and run away, having diverted the stallion's attention from the woman, but found her riding boots stuck in some mud that had formed in the ring from last night's rain. They were some special kind of stupid boots that had fancy adjustments all over them to make sure they fit your feet, and Haruhi had no idea how to take them off. Tamaki had taken ten minutes just to put them on... Haruhi didn't have that kind of time. The horse was charging at her, completely focused, _now_.

So, instead of cowering in a ball and waiting for some stupid rich crazy horse to trample her, Haruhi just stood up and looked at the horse, arms wide open, challenging the horse. _Oh, yeah? Come and get me, you stupid horse._

"_HARUHI!"_

_Tamaki. _

**Okay. I know. I'm awful. Cliffie. But I really wanted to update this before tomorrow and regardless if I'm not asleep in fifteen minutes my parents are going to confiscate my laptop for heaven knows how long. So this is insurance that I'll be able to update soon. I'll try (and fail) to wake up early tomorrow morning to update. Review, please! Love you all~ **


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: **

**I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Good thing, too- I can't draw for my life, especially anime!**

**Hello peoples! So, I have no idea how I actually got up before eleven this morning, but I guess I was too excited on my own cliffhanger, so here's an update. Just a warning: Haruhi does more stupid stuff in here, and I guess it kind of gets dramatic, especially with her and Haruhi (because I love TamaHaru! XD). Read, enjoy, and review!~**

Chapter 4

_"HARUHI!"_

_Tamaki._

And then... the horse gave her this weird look, and skidded to a halt right in front of her, its face quite literally centimeters from hers, just... staring at her. Haruhi stared back, but soon the others caught up.

"Haruhi!" Tamaki got there first, and grabbed her wrists angrily with his shaking hands as he put his back to the horse. "What the hell were you thinking?! You don't just challenge a charging horse! What on Earth is wrong with you?!"

"Uh...sorry?"

"Sorry. Sorry?! And how sorry would you be if the horse _hadn't stopped_, Haruhi? Did you even think that far?! And why didn't you move out of the way?!"

The others had caught up now, all looking at her like she was crazy. Like they were slightly mad at her for being so stupid, but their worry overrode it, mostly. Like... like they had all looked at her that first day, on the beach, with those local boys and the cliff... and the water... Haruhi shuddered.

Tamaki's eyes softened. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay, I think. No cuts or scratches. It didn't even touch me."

"But_ why didn't you move_?"

"I got stuck in the mud."

"What mud?"

"The mud at my fee-"

Haruhi froze. No matter where she looked on the ground, _there was no mud._

_So...what did I get stuck in?_

"Haruhi", Hunny said in confusion, "there's no mud..."

"I swear there was just mud... my boots were stuck in it...I couldn't move..."

Now, they were really looking at her like she was going crazy.

"I think I understand", Kyouya offered, pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. "In a situation of extreme fear, one is often immobilized by it; when not understanding the situation, that is, why they can't move, the brain will conjure up a hallucination to best fit the situation and provide an acceptable excuse as to why the body is immobilized."

"So, basically", the twins said dully, "she was seeing things because she was scared that a crazy horse was going to trample her."

"Precisely."

"Guys, stop looking at me like that. Okay, so something freaky went on in my brain and I got stuck in some non-existent mud. Big deal. I'm fine now, aren't I?"

"But why did you do it in the first place?" Tamaki asked softly, his voice somewhat raw. "Our trainers know how to handle situations like this. She would have just slipped through the bars."

"He's right", said a female voice from behind them. Haruhi turned and saw the trainer walking up to them. "I'm Juliet. I actually came here from France to try and train this fellow", she said in fluent Japanese, trying to pat the horse on the neck, but it shimmied away. "Honestly, I don't know why he stopped. He's quite determined, and in all reality he should have just trampled right over you."

Haruhi shuddered violently, and the twins filled in on either side of her for comfort while she just caught Mori giving the trainer an evil glare.

Juliet shrugged, indifferent. "Anyway, he must have seen something special in you. Say, after you come back from your ride, how about you come and see him while he's on the harness in the training ring? He'll be in his equipment so he won't be able to charge you again, and I think he has some weird sort of connection with you. If he wanted to avoid you, he should have just swerved, but for some reason he stopped right in front of you...you should come over, later."

"Uh...I'll see..." Haruhi muttered. She didn't exactly want to see the crazy horse again, but had a feeling that she would.

As Juliet led the horse away, the twins looked over at her. "You know", they said together, "if you don't feel like going horseback riding, we don't have to."

"No, it's okay. I think I need some fresh air, anyway. It's too dusty by the stables, my allergies are starting to kick up."

"Ooookaaayyy", they said skeptically, and silently Tamaki took her hand and they all started walking back towards the stables and their awaiting horses. Haruhi looked up at him momentarily, but then quickly looked down again, not comfortable with all the worry and anger and sadness and, most of all, fear she saw in his eyes that he was trying to hide.

"But, _why_," He breathed softly to himself. Haruhi pretended she didn't hear.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, they were all on the trail, with water and a couple snacks in some trailbags attached to their saddles. Tamaki was riding his usual horse, a golden mare. Kyouya was on a black stallion, the twins were on two reddish-chesnut horses nearly identical, Hunny, naturally, was on a pony, and Mori was on a short grey horse making sure Hunny didn't fall off (unnecessarily, as the small boy had ridden plenty of times before). Tamaki had put Haruhi on the gentlest horse they had, a young white mare that had been born and raised so that she would be calm.

"Senpai, why do you have so many horses, anyway?"

"My dad likes to bet on horse races as a pasttime, and he got really into horses so he bought a few. There's more at the main mansion."

"Oh."

They trotted on for another twenty minutes, the Club jabbering on about things like themes for the next couple of days, an upcoming school dance, and last year's festivals. Haruhi was silent for most of it, only providing a few responses, until Hikaru noticed and asked her,

"So, Haruhi, what are the commoner festivals like?"

"Huh? Oh, well, there's firecrackers- lots, and of course food- commoner food. And then sometimes there are street acts, like people doing tricks on horses or magic tricks or whatever, and there are lots of stands that you can buy stuff at, like little necklaces or bracelets made out of beads and different colored string, and a wide variety of cheap fans or hairpins. It's actually a pretty good place to get stuff cheap. And then, at the end, all the shops close down, and everyone sits down on a towel or chair or just on the street, and then a couple of minutes later there's a huge fireworks display and for a half an hour or so the sky's lit up with brilliant flowers of fire."

"That sounds amazing, especially the fireworks!" Hunny enthused from down on his pony. Haruhi smiled down at him.

"Yeah, I've heard the fireworks are really pretty."

"What are they like?" Kaoru asked with interest. "We don't have any fireworks at our festivals. They're considered too dangerous and unnecessary and loud, and they interrupt business."

"Well, I wouldn't be the one to tell you what they're like", Haruhi said. "My dad's told me all about them, but I've never actually seen any."

"What? Why not? It sounds great," Hikaru said.

Understanding flashed behind Kyouya's glasses. "Ah, I see. It's because the sound is too much like thunder, isn't it?"

Haruhi nodded. "And the flashing lights don't really help either." She laughed weakly.

"That must be terrible", Hunny said sadly. "Not only to be able to see something so fun, but to know that every festival you're going to be so scared..."

"Aw, it's all right, Hunny. I'm used to it. I just have to try and go to sleep before they start, and if I'm lucky they won't wake me up. It's worked a couple of times."

"We're here", Tamaki said cheerily, trying to brighten up the mood. "My favorite picnic spot!"

"But, Senpai, brunch was just a little while ago."

"I know, but the maids packed a couple of snacks and I thought we'd stop for a while", he replied, hopping down from his horse and starting to unpack a picnic blanket and some food. The others dismounted as well, pulling out water bottles and various types of rich-people snacks, and bowls for the horses. Tamaki laid down the blanket and within a few minutes, everything was set up.

"Now, where was the stream again?" Tamaki thought to himself. "I know it was somewhere around here..."

"I'll go find it, Senpai", Haruhi offered, taking a canteen to fill up her mare's bowl with and starting to head off.

"But you'll miss the food", Tamaki whined, his puppy dog eyes tuned on her now.

"It's fine, I'm not very hungry."

Blank, unamused stares from everyone in the Club. Haruhi ignored them.

"Bye, guys." She walked into the forest, following the barely audible sounds of the river through the trees. "I'll be back soon."

* * *

Soon she found it, and was surprised at how fast it was moving. It was overflowing from the rain last night, though the trail they had ridden on was surprisingly dry, sheltered by the trees overhead. She bent down to fill the canteen and let herself listen to the birds up ahead. She smiled at the beautiful day, when suddenly the canteen was ripped from her grasp by the raging stream. It only got a few feet out into the river, though, before the strap on it was caught on a rock in the middle of the stream.

Haruhi sighed. Just her luck. Well, such a small stream couldn't be that dangerous, right? It was fairly small. She knew she had to get the canteen back, so she tried to find the best path of stones leading to where it was stranded. She found a fairly suitable path, though she would have to stretch some and the rocks were slippery from moss. Some part of Haruhi's brain registered that she shouldn't do this, that she should just let it go, but like earlier that day, for some reason Haruhi's brain suppressed the thought.

Hesitantly, she started to cross the river, placing each foot in the middle of the stones to try and balance her center of gravity. She got to the second stone out of about five before she felt herself start to slip. She tried to regain her balance, but she just kept slipping farther and farther, until...

_Great, now I'm going to get all wet._

But before she could fall, a hand yanked her back to safety, barely getting he feet back on solid ground. The hand pulled her to its owner, and he wrapped one arm around Haruhi's back and one around her head, as if reassuring himself that she was safe.

"What the _hell_, Haruhi", he whispered. She recognized the voice and looked down.

"Senpai...your canteen's gonna float away..."

"Like I _give a damn _about my canteen!" he was shaking now, _with fury_, she thought, though she didn't know she was incorrect. She gulped.

"Look, Senpai...don't be mad, I was just trying to get back your canteen..."

She felt a drop of water drip onto her face. She thought it was a raindrop from a tree overhead, but then she realized that her face was completely covered by Tamaki's head. _Is he...crying?_

Suddenly, without warning, Tamaki's knees gave out and he fell to his knees, bringing Haruhi with him.

"Whoa, Senpai, you all right?"

"_Why", _he asked her miserably. "I have absolutely no idea why you're doing this, standing in the line of stampeding horses and trying to cross dangerous rivers for a stupid _canteen_, but please, just... just stop..." A few more tears.

Haruhi was shocked. She'd never seen Tamaki cry before, and she'd never thought he'd cry for _her_. His body was convulsing, not with tears, but with fear, she realized, that he might have lost her.

"I'm sorry, Senpai. I really am. I don't know why. I mean, there was this little voice telling me in the back of my head that I should stop, but I guess... I didn't hear it enough... look, I'm sorry, don't cry."

She felt oddly warm to him, but then he thought that it was probably just because of the hot day, and either way, she felt warm whenever he touched her. That was nothing new, right?

"Just... next time..." he said slowly, getting up from the ground and bringing her face to look at his, with slightly pink eyes and messed-up hair, "listen to that little voice in the back of your head, okay?" Haruhi nodded. "Or else I'm going to have to assign someone to guard you 24/7."

She glared at him. "You wouldn't."

He laughed and ruffled her hair before wiping his eyes and straightening his own. He kissed her lightly on the forehead before taking her hand and dragging her through the trees.

"Come on, let's head back."

* * *

The other five were talking in the clearing, food untouched, when they came back.

"Took you long enough", the twins accused. "Where's the canteen?"

"It, uh, might've floated down the river", Haruhi admitted, scratching her head. "Why haven't you guys started eating?"

"Tamaki insisted upon waiting for you. You were taking a while, so he went to go find you. I see he did," Kyouya expained nonchalantly, but Haruhi could see his eyes analyzing the both of them, Tamaki's just barely puffy eyes that no one else would have noticed... tiny remnants of salt on his face...his hair was different from when he left... both of their knees were muddy... shaking slightly... Haruhi could almost see the little light bulb above his head light up, and he looked at her with something that might have been concern. _No way_, Haruhi thought. _Could he really have figured all of that out just from looking at us? Freaky. _

"So, let's dig in!" Tamaki piped up, sitting down on the towel and patting the spot next to him for Haruhi. She sat down next to him as the Club started snacking.

"Haruhi." Tamaki was looking at her sternly. "Eat. Now."

"I'm not hungry." She could be just as stubborn as he was, but of course, her stomach betrayed her... again.

_GGGGRRRRRRRAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHH_

_..._

All heads slowly turned to Haruhi, in disbelief and amusement that anyone's stomach could make such a loud noise. The twins sighed. "Just eat, Haruhi. Don't make us shove it down your throat. Like it or not, before we leave this clearing, you _will _have eaten something."

"Fine," she grumbled, knowing that she wasn't going to win this one. She picked up a small piece of chocolate and took the tiniest bite possible. "Mm, yum", she faked.

"Now eat the rest of it."

"You can't force me."

"Do you really want to test that theory?" The twins asked her somewhat deviously. "I'm pretty sure none of the others would stop us, anyway, and it would only take one of us to hold you down and another to shove the food in your mouth."

Haruhi looked somewhat frantically at Tamaki, waiting for him to object, but he said nothing. He just looked at her with a face that said, 'Eat. They're not kidding, and I wouldn't stop them."

She huffed and started nibbling on the rest of the chocolate bar, but ate no more.

As the others returned to their usual chatter, Haruhi caught Kyouya giving her an indiscreet look, between her and Tamaki. Her confusion was betrayed in her eyes, so Kyouya sighed, adjusted his glasses and asked her,

"So, Haruhi, are you going to tell them where you've decided to stay?"

All eyes turned to her and realization clicked in her brain. "Oh, uh, yeah."

"It's with us, right?" the twins said confidently. "We knew it all along. We are, of course, in the same class, after all. It's the most convenient." Tamaki's head slumped slightly, and Haruhi had to suppress a laugh.

"Actually, no. You guys were close, though. But, I actually thought I'd ask... I mean, I thought it over with Kyouya this morning, and in the end I kind of thought I'd like to live with the Suohs."

No one was really that surprised, except for the twins and Tamaki (who was more ecstatic than surprised). "Really?! You want to live at my house?! Whoopee!" He exclaimed in glee and did a little victory dance sitting down, which looked more like he really had to go to the bathroom.

The twins nodded, haning their heads in defeat. "Oh, Hikaru, she doesn't want to live with us."

"Don't worry, Kaoru, we'll be fine... as long was we have each other..."

"You guys can drop it, you're forgetting we're not in Music Room 3 right now", Haruhi said, unamused.

"Oh, right, silly us. We're not used to a day off from hosting."

"Then what do you guys do during weekends and vacations?"

"We host the maids and girls passing by", the twins answered, and Haruhi was disturbed that a great deal of the club nodded in agreement. _What's this world coming to?_

"So, that's why you wanted to know what time Dad was getting home tonight", Tamaki realized excitedly.

"Yup", Haruhi confirmed. She turned to the rest of the club. "Thanks for all of your offers, guys. Really. I don't know what I'd do without you." She smiled gratefully.

"Of course, Haruhi. You're our friend. We'd do anything for you", Hunny smiled back, and Mori ruffled his hair.

"My dad will be so happy that you've come to live with us", Tamaki said, still giddy. "He's strangely attached to you, for some reason..."

Haruhi smiled at him, and he felt a strange fluttering sensation in his heart. _Why? _he thought. He'd stopped thinking of her as his daughter since Ranka died, so... what was this, now?

* * *

After they got back, when all the horses were fed and watered (no one had dared to venture back to the fast-moving stream, so they shared the water with the horses and everyone was parched) and the Host Club gulped down some water, too, they started to head back inside when Haruhi heard a familiar voice calling her.

"Hey! Ms. Fujioka! Could you come here for a second, please?" Oh. It was Juliet, that trainer woman, and she was standing beside the horse from earlier, who was in his saddle and all roped up to a training wheel.

Tamaki, walking beside her, tensed a little. "You don't have to go and see that crazy horse again, you know. Who knows what it'll do..."

"It's fine, Senpai. I don't mind. I want to see the horse, anyway. I'm kind of curious as to why it stopped. You go on ahead with the guys, I'll only be a couple of minutes."

He hesitated, and she sighed and whispered to him, "Don't worry. I'll listen to the little voice."

Tamaki nodded a bit, and walked on with the rest of the club, still looking back occasionally to make sure his friend wasn't about to do anything stupid.

Haruhi walked over to the horse and trainer. It really was quite a beautiful stallion. She had never seen one with his coloring before, that is, chestnut with grey speckles dotting his body and face. "Hey", Juliet smiled. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, thanks. You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah, I wanted to see how he reacted to you again, you know, when he's not charging you."

Haruhi grimaced at the memory, but nodded and said, "Sure. What do you think is going to happen? I mean, what do you want me to do?"

"Just put your hand on his head, like this..." Juliet took Haruhi's hand and placed it on the horse's forehead. The stallion closed his eyes in what looked like pleasure.

"Whoah, that's odd... usually he'll pull back and rear at anyone that tries touch him... I wonder why he likes you?"

"I dunno... does he have a story?"

"Uh, yeah, I think. Let's see, from what Mr. Suoh told me, he was seperated from his parents in a storm. One of the breeders that Mr. S buys horses from found our little stallion here and took him in, but he was always too feisty to be broken in. Mr. Suoh liked his spirit, so he bought him on a whim, but none of his trainers have gotten through. Just to brush him we had to hold him down. No one could even touch him... except, apparently, for you."

"Huh. Wait." Haruhi looked over at Juliet. "Did you say he was separated from his parents?"

"Yeah, while he was still a little colt."

_That's just weird. Are horses telepathic or something? The only connection we share and there's no way a horse should be able to tell that. This is a little ironically coincidental. _Absentmindedly,Haruhi took her other hand and ran it across the horse's body,stroking him. She was zapped back from her thoughts as the horse whinnied in pleasure, rubbing himself back against Haruhi's hand, asking for more.

Juliet's eyes widened. "Wow, he _really _likes you. I think, maybe... would you like to try and ride him?"

"_Ride him? _Not three hours ago he tried to _trample me_."

Juliet shrugged. "And now he's asking you to pet him more."

There was that little voice again. _Don't do it, Haruhi. Just don't. He's a crazy horse. Sure, he likes you now, but what about when you're on his back? Don't be stupid._

"Actually, why no-"

_You promised Tamaki. _

"...Maybe later, actually. Another day. I'll visit him so he gets used to me, and we'll see where it goes from there."

Juliet nodded, a little disappointed. "Oh, okay. Sure. Well, I'll be back next week, if you want to try then."

"Sure."

Haruhi patted the stallion once more, and he watched with sad blue eyes as she headed back to the house to her friends, feeling slightly relieved she had declined for now.

~_meanwhile, whilst Haruhi was with Juliet and the stallion...~_

Tamaki kept on glancing back over his shoulder at Haruhi, silently begging her not to do anything stupid again. He was starting to debate leaving her alone with a crazy trainer and a crazier horse. The twins noticed his concern.

"Don't worry, Boss. She'll be fine. She's a strong girl."

"Yeah, I guess so..." They hadn't seen her at the stream, though...

"Hey." Tamaki looked over at Kyouya, who kept looking straight ahead. "I know what you're thinking, about the stream. But really, you shouldn't worry, the look in her eyes is different. If I wasn't confident she wouldn't do something stupid again I wouldn't have let us leave her."

Tamaki's eyes widened."You- you know about the stream?" Kyouya nodded. "How?"

"It wasn't that hard, really. Muddy knees, messed up hair, puffy eyes, and residues of salt. That, and the fact that Haruhi didn't have her canteen and she often disregards her own bodily safety..."

"Oh. Right."

The six of them entered the living room of the mansion and flopped down. Hunny looked out the window. "She's still there", he said, and sat down back on Mori's lap with Usa in his arms.

"Tamaki, you're thinking of something, aren't you?" the twins asked the blonde looking out the window.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking, I mean, with her dad dead now Haruhi's going to find it a little more difficult to concentrate on her studies... and, I mean, I was wondering... is it fair, with all of that, if..."

Kaoru and Hikaru's eyes widened. "You don't mean..."

"Yeah, I do."

Kyouya looked over at him.

"I understand fully, but there's still the matter of-"

"Yeah, Kyo, I know. But if she's going to be living in the Suoh household, it wouldn't be a problem anymore."

"What, what?" Hunny asked. "Don't leave me out of it!" Mori, now understanding, bent down and whispered in his ear. Hunny's eyes grew bigger and sad, like the others."No...Do... do we have to?"

Tamaki nodded sadly. "It's only fair that we give her the chance."

They all sat around, silent, thinking, until Haruhi came into the room. "Hey, guys."

The twins jumped up to cover for their former gloominess. "Haruhi, we just had an idea! You're going to need some fancy clothes for your dinner with Mr. Suoh tonight, and we know just the twins!"

* * *

Of course the twins had insisted that Haruhi would need a stylish dress for dinner with Mr. Suoh that night (that was just so _them_), and since Tamaki's house didn't really have any since no girls ever really lived there besides the maids (and they didn't actually _live_ there), the twins insisted that they give Haruhi as a present a stylish little dress. She didn't complain about having to dress up all girly, just thanked the two, and wondered how on Earth she was going to pull this off. True, Tamaki's father had already offered for her to stay with them, but she knew from experience that in some cases offers such as that were merely a formality, and even if Mr. Suoh _did _want Haruhi to live at his mansion along with Tamaki (and she really thought that, for some reason, he did), it's still a huge deal to accept an offer like that.

The dress arrived two hours before dinner, and the maids started fussing that there wasn't going to be enough time, which worried Haruhi for reasons completely different than not being ready.

_It takes rich people two hours to get ready for dinner?! How am I gonna live here?!_

The dress was beautiful, full length and a light red color. It had ruffles towards the top and a beautiful snaking pattern at the sides, with little folds at the bottom. It wasn't anything too complicated (by the Hitachiin standards, anyway), but it wasn't quite simple, either. The maids kept on cooing over how pretty she looked and how excited they were to finally be able to dress up a girl in the household (they didn't know yet that she was staying. Haruhi wondered how giddy they'd be then). Of course Haruhi had taken a shower from dusty horseback riding, and once her hair was dry (which didn't take long at all), the maids tried to do something with it... and, inevitably failed.

"Your hair's just too short!" The maid named Rin whined. "We can't curl it or it'll look like an afro, we can't straighten it or it looks like you're emo, we can try to pin it back but if we do too much it reveals too much of your face, and it's not long enough to braid in any way!"

Haruhi laughed. "Sorry, Rin. I have an idea. One clip usually works on my side bangs."

The maids brightened. "We know just the clip!" Two of them dashed out of the room and returned with a pretty hairclip with a jeweled flower at the end made of rubies. "This'll go perfectly with your dress!"

And so, they pinned back her hair, did her makeup, picked out her shoes from a selection the twins had provided, and loads of other girly things that Haruhi had never done in her life but that the maids _insisted _she _absolutely had to have (!). _

Finally, Haruhi slipped on her dress. Taking a deep breath, she muttered "Here we go", and opened the doors of the guest bedroom (she wondered if this would become her new room?) and headed out to dinner with the chairman of her school and his son, one of her best friends.

**Okay, I'm not even going to ****_begin _****the dinner scene because that would make this chapter WAAAAY too long. I started this at 9:30 AM and now it's 2:30 PM. With lunch and shower breaks, that's still about four hours of typing... so don't hesitate (PLEASE) to take four minutes to review! Even if you're not logged in, it doesn't matter!**

**Anyway, I'll try and update ASAP. Review! Love you all~ **


	5. Not a chapter- a few explanations

**Hey guys!**

**So this isn't a chapter, I'm just explaining a few things. **

**1) About the scene last chapter while Haruhi was with the horse and the Club was talking about something that probably none of you guessed (if you did, I applaud you brilliantly and give you an internet cake), I meant to not explain it. It comes into play later in the fanfic, where there's a little more drama (because I can) right before Haruhi finally starts healing. I meant to leave that unbeknownst to you, sorry (not really). **

**2) Someone pointed out that it's "Kyoya" and not "Kyouya". I have to point out that it can be spelled in both ways. I know that the more popular spelling is "Kyoya", but my friend and I are kind of anglophiles and since there are a lot of extra 'u's in both British language and Old English, I like the spelling of "Kyouya" (it also sounds fancier :3). If you're wondering where it's even spelled like that, the only website I've found so far (granted, I stopped looking once I found one that worked) that actually has all of OHSHC in manga in English is: . c o m (this website won't let me post other websites without spaces in between them, it's weird), and in the scanlations on that website it's "Kyouya", so I'm sticking with that. **

**3) In the first chapter (and maybe the second, I don't remember) I spelled it "Otori". I realized that and later corrected my mistake. Same with proper noun and pronoun capitalization for "Senpai", though I realize a lot of you won't care about the grammar stuff, I think it adds a finishing touch. **

**Please keep reviewing :3 but not this chapter!**

**Love you all, will update as soon as I can ~**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey guys!**

** A few things:**

** 1) Yes. Okay. I fully understand. Officially, it's 'Kyoya', without a 'u'. That's fine, for you. However, I like to add 'u's to things. It makes them sound fancier. Ex: Humour, honour, favourite, colour. So, I apologize if my apparent misspelling of Kyouya's name bothers you. You may be grammar and spelling-fiesty. I am too... which is precisely why I am not changing it. The rest of my writing is fairly error-free, so I will continue spelling it 'Kyouya', but I acknowledge that your spelling of 'Kyoya' is "right".**

** 2) Why do coconuts taste like soap?**

** I think that's it. Oh, wait...**

** 3) Just... review. I'm not going to hold it as a threat against you that I won't update or whatever, but if you like it enough to fave or follow, just write 'is good' or something (preferably more creative). Thanks.**

** Read, ****_review_**** and enjoy~**

Chapter 5

Tamaki nervously paced his room and checked his watch. Still another hour until dinner. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, still slightly damp from the shower. Usually he would dry it all the way (meaning his maids would dry it while Tamaki rambled on about whatever new thing was happening with the Host Club), but unable to concentrate he had stopped halfway through (shooing the confused maids out of his room), called for Kyouya and started pacing. Why isn't he here yet?

As if on cue, Tamaki's raven-haired friend walked in and looked at him. "You wanted to see me?"

"Ah, yes. Please, Kyouya, sit down." Tamaki gestured to the chair next to him, and the pair sat down in silence.

More silence.

Kyouya started drumming his fingertips on the arm rests of the chair while he saw Tamaki struggle to form the words he needed. Kyouya sighed and adjusted his glasses, as the blonde finally voiced his question.

"According to Haruhi, uh... earlier you two, ah...were talking about her housing opportunities... and I guess that I was wondering..." Tamaki found himself once again at a loss for words.

Kyouya asked the question for his friend. "You were wondering if she seemed okay, if there was anything we discussed that you should know about, and frankly, why she chose the Suoh household instead of that of the Hitachiins." Tamaki nodded, and Kyouya answered his own questions. "As much as she can be, no, and I'm sure that you'll find that out at dinner tonight when your father asks her the same question. Now, if you'll excuse me, I still have a physics project to finish..." Kyouya stood up, and out of the corner of his eye saw Tamaki stand up as well. He turned to his blonde friend and saw in his eyes some sadness and a small plea.

Kyouya sighed again. "Tamaki, I can't answer any more than you can ask, and I can only read the questions in your mind so far."

Tamaki's shoulders slumped in something like defeat. "...I know."

Suddenly, in a gesture that no one would have guessed from Kyouya, the tall second-year placed a hand on Tamaki's shoulder and looked at him over his glasses with something resembling... was that compassion? "Tamaki... surely you don't still see yourself as a father figure to Haruhi now that Ranka has passed?" Tamaki shook his head sadly, and in confusion, wondering where this was going.

"Then what is it that you feel for her?"

No answer. Kyouya saw in the confused, stormy eyes of his friend that there was none coming, so he quietly let himself out. As he was walking down the hall out to his limousine, he chuckled softly to himself, a sort of sadness in his eyes.

"I wonder what will happen when he discovers the answer..."

* * *

"...n...on...Son!" Tamaki snapped out of his reverie and looked over to his father, at the head of the table. He was looking at his son with something almost reminiscent of concern masked behind slight frustration.

"Yes, father?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for a while now. I would appreciate it if you were focused during dinner." Tamaki nodded at his father, and tried his best to lock up the storm inside of his head that Kyouya had unleashed earlier with his one simple question...

"Then what is it that you feel for her?"

What do I feel for her? Do I feel anything at all? Of course I do, that's undeniable. I have for a while...but, I thought that it was as her father...so... if not father, then what?...

He pushed these thoughts to the back of his head as he saw Haruhi descend the flight of stairs, in a beautiful red dress that flattered her figure and fit perfectly, with red sandals on a slight heel studded with occasional sequins and a flower hairclip made of rubies. Tamaki's heart did a little flip in his chest, and he found his breathing becoming shallower. Deciding to ignore these, Tamaki found himself standing up and walking over to her to escort her the rest of the way to the table. She looked at him in slight surprise as he offered his arm, and for some reason his cheeks felt like they were on fire when she took it. "Oh. Thanks, Tamaki-senpai."

"Uhmm...no problem..."

She looked at him curiously, and for some reason the look on her face made his heart flip-flop again. "Something the matter, Senpai? You're rather quiet."

"Oh, uh... just hungry, I guess..." He made an excuse as he pulled out her chair for her, and pushed it back in as she sat down. He went around to his own place opposite of her and a few places down from his father at the head of the table. He noticed the slight nod of approval from his father for escorting her to her seat like a gentleman, but that wasn't the reason why Tamaki had done it, though he didn't know why.

"Oh... sorry if I made you two wait for me", Haruhi apologized as she set her napkin on her lap, looking kind of shy in her dress and out of her element at the large table.

"Oh, no, you didn't. We just got to the table ourselves", Tamaki's father reassured her, and went on to say, "I heard from Tamaki that you have a desire to taste fancy tuna, so I asked the chef to prepare some dishes with it for us tonight. Ah, here they come", he said, looking at the line of butlers and maids bustling in with trays upon trays of food in their arms.

Haruhi looked on in astonishment at the large array of food being unveiled before them, her eyes glittering with excitement at the thought of finally being able to taste some fancy tuna. "Wow, thank you, Mr. Suoh! I've been waiting to try some."

"You're very welcome, Haruhi", the older man laughed lightheartedly at the young girl's excitement. "I would have thought that the Host Club would have served some fancy tuna at one of the parties they host so often."

"Well, we were all kind of occupied at the Ouran Fair, what with Ms. Tonerre's...appearance... though it's been used as an incentive for me to stay in the club," Haruhi offered, remembering her own nonchalance at her being discovered as a girl during physical exams, and Mori's motivating her with the promise of the fancy tuna.

"Yes, I see. What about the party in the beginning of the year, your first I believe?"

"Well..." Haruhi laughed at the memory of her first Host Club party. "We were all sort of preoccupied trying to get a couple back together, and I wasn't really able to toward the end of the party." Mr. Suoh raised an eyebrow, curious to why, and Haruhi explained, an amused smile appearing on her face. "I was kind of in a slight shock that I had accidentally just kissed a girl." She looked over to Tamaki with mock distaste. "Thanks, Senpai."

"What's this?" Tamaki's father asked his son. "What did you have to do with that?"

"I might have... accidentally... pushed her into it trying to stop it..." the young man started blushing again as Haruhi and his father laughed.

Haruhi took a small bite of some fancy tuna now, and her eyes widened to an impossibly large state. "This... this is delicious!" she said enthusiastically, and turned to the nearest maid. "Give the chef my compliments!" she asked with a thumbs-up for emphasis, and the two Suoh men had small smiles of amusement on their faces, which had disappeared by the time the girl turned back around and took another bite happily.

"You look beautiful tonight, Haruhi", Tamaki found himself blurting out, and blushed furiously as she looked at him with a shy smile. Why am I acting so oddly?

"I must agree with my son", Mr. Suoh commented. "You do look absolutely stunning."

"Thank you very much."

"You're quite welcome. Is it one of the pieces in the Hitachiin collection?"

"Yes. Hikaru and Kaoru picked it out especially for tonight. I'm just glad they didn't stick me in anything with lace", Haruhi laughed. Mr. Suoh smiled.

"Yes. Quite a talented family in the fashion world. And I'm sure..." Tamaki noticed his father's 'business' face coming on. "I'm sure that, in your difficult time, they have also offered to provide a place for you to stay for the remainder of your high school career."

Haruhi took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, they have. All of the Host Club offered, actually. I don't know what I'd do without them."

Mr. Suoh smiled. "Yes, I see. Well, as I'm sure my son has already offered on behalf of the Suoh family, we would also like to extend an invitation for you to come and live with us." Haruhi nodded, and Mr. Suoh continued. "And, I would like you to know that it's not only an invitation, not merely a formality- I can honestly say that we would be genuinely pleased to have you. We've been keeping loose tabs on your progress at school out of interest, and the results we've seen from you have been truly impressive. Top girl in your class- and only second overall behind Kyouya- with amazing dedication and skill and admirable loyalty. You know what needs to be done and do it, but at the same time have remained flexible enough to be open to new opportunities and challenges, all of which you have risen to. You know when to step down, and the only instance in which you have failed to do so was solely for the reason of defending your friend Kyouya, which you were right in doing as his father's actions at the time were rather unjustified." Haruhi blushed slightly at the memory of her opposition to Mr. Ootori. "We would truly be honored to have a young gem such as yourself join our family", Mr. Suoh said with a flashy smile, and Haruhi could for a second see where Tamaki got his instincts to host.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Suoh", Haruhi said politely. "This morning Kyouya-senpai and I were going over the offers I have received, and we actually made a decision."

"Oh?"

"Yes." Haruhi took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and a few sips of water to try and cool down- she was feeling a bit warm a few beads of sweat trickling down her back, probably from the unnerving situation... "I was wondering if I could possibly take you up on your offer. I would be greatly honored if I could stay with the Suoh family for the rest of my years in high school."

Mr. Suoh immediately brightened up, and looked slightly surprised. "Of course, my dear! Happy to have you in the family! I'd have our people gather your things from your apartment and bring them here, but your friend Kyouya's people came by right before dinner and took care of that. Your things are in the front room, we didn't have time to move them just yet... though, at the time I thought your stay was temporary... but of course I'm very pleased that you'll be staying with us," Tamaki's father enthused, a smile lighting up his face.

Haruhi slumped in her chair a little, clearly relieved. She wiped her forehead, which was slightly damp. "Thank you very much, Mr. Suoh. You don't know how much that means to me."

"Of course, my dear! This will be excellent!" Tamaki's father clapped his hands together. "Welcome to the family! Call me Uncle!"

Haruhi laughed weakly, still a bit uncomfortable at the thought of family other than her father... "Okay, then, Uncle Suoh."

"What? Oh, definitely not! Uncle Yuzuru! You're a Suoh now, anyway!" the chairman exclaimed happily, while Haruhi looked down.

"Actually... if it's not too much of a bother... I mean, I know I'll be living in the Suoh household, but I'd like to keep my father's surname... I mean, at least until I'm married..."

Yuzuru nodded in understanding. "Ah, no, of course, that won't be a problem. You'll still be Haruhi Fujioka, then." She nodded in thanks.

The rest of the meal was finished with discussion about legal matters, such as the paperwork for Yuzuru to become Haruhi's legal guardian and sorting things out with the school and such. Haruhi had a few more small bites of the fancy tuna, but ate no more, insisting that while the meal was delicious, she wasn't hungry- at which Tamaki looked at her in concern, but said nothing. The maids cleared off the dishes once they had finished, and Mr. Suoh dismissed them all from the table while Tamaki showed Haruhi to the room she would live in, where all of her things had been put in by Kyouya's people.

"...And, here we are", Tamaki opened the door and gestured inside excitedly, running in after Haruhi like an excited little boy. "Isn't it grand? It would have been the room I'd have picked if I hadn't chosen the other one!"

It was a rather spectacular room. Very spacious, indeed bigger than her whole apartment back where she used to live, the theme of the room was a deep rich feeling, very textured and thick. With dark maroon curtains laced with royal purple on the sides as well as rugs, bedspreads, and furniture to match, the fading sunlight streamed in through the large windows as the last of the sunset sank over the horizon. All of Haruhi's things from her previous apartment were in five small boxes on the floor a few meters away from her bed. There weren't a lot of things, as they hadn't had a lot of space in the apartment.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I like it very much, Tamaki-senpai. Thank you." Haruhi wiped some sweat from her brow (was it a bit stuffy in this room?) and sat down in a nearby chair, feeling slightly lightheaded.

Tamaki noticed and sat down with her. "No problem. And, please, Haruhi, if we're going to be living in the same household, I don't mind if you just call me Tamaki."

"But... It's respectful to use the correct honorific..." Haruhi murmured, and whispered so he couldn't hear, "don't change anything else, please..."

After a few moments of silence, Tamaki cleared his throat. _Well, this is it_, he thought, remembering the earlier conversation with the rest of the Host Club (Haruhi excluded) while Haruhi was petting the horse._ No turning back. We all agree... we have to at least give her the chance..._

"Er, Haruhi", he said rather uncomfortably. She turned to him, slightly flushed, and he felt his cheeks grow rather red at how adorable she looked, still in her beautiful dress.

"Yes, Senpai?"

"I...er...well..." She raised an eyebrow at him, and he felt his heart beat even more rapidly in his chest.

"Ummmmmm...ah..." Haruhi sighed.

"Sen- Er, Tamaki, just say it already, please. I don't know why you're so nervous."

_I don't either_, Tamaki mused, but gathered up enough courage to steady his nerves and finallly start. "Well... while you were petting the horse earlier today, the rest of the club and I had a conversation... and came to a conclusion." Haruhi looked at him intently now, having caught her interest. Usually, from her perspective, whenever the Host Club got together to talk about her, things didn't turn out too well for the first year girl.

"About what?" She asked warily.

Tamaki sighed deeply, and Haruhi started to become concerned. _I wonder what could be making him act like this..._

"Well, as you know, you obviously enrolled in Ouran to get a better chance at a law school scholarship so you wouldn't have to pay tuition to achieve your dream of becoming a great lawyer." Haruhi nodded, and Tamaki joked weakly, "why else would you put up with us damn rich kids?" A light chuckle came from the young girl in an effort to conceal her worry. He never joked like this...

"Your studies, therefore, are obviously your foremost priority."

_Why is he talking like Kyouya?_

"Of course, any distractions would not be beneficial to your grades and your scholarship here at Ouran. The Host Club, it could be argued, has already distracted you from your goal..." Tamaki's voice was growing weary.

"Senpai?" Haruhi said quietly, forgetting his earlier request and wiping a few beads of sweat off of her forehead. It was hot in here...

But Tamaki forced himself to continue. "Now, with your father... gone... you'll need some time to grieve, but you studies can't afford that with your current schedule, so there's really only one solution..." Tamaki gulped and looked down, no longer able to meet her eyes... "Haruhi Fujioka, due to your current position at Ouran, and as you are now a resident of the Suoh household with debts easily repaid, you are officially removed from any obligations regarding Host Club duties."

The words rang in Haruhi's ears. "_You are officially removed from any obligations regarding Host Club duties"... _All the blood rose to her face, and she started to once again feel lightheaded, this time from shock. Haruhi felt herself getting up, as if in a daze, unable to control her body. She walked in front of her senpai, who was still unable to look at her.

_Slap._

The sound of Haruhi's hand connecting briefly with Tamaki's face rang out across the room, breaking the quiet that had inhabited it a few moments before. The blonde's hand slowly rose up to his cheek that was already turning pink, and his violet eyes finally managed to look up at the girl's face with shock and confusion that quickly turned to alarm and concern when he saw the tears streaming down her face, her body shaking with tears.

"Hey, Haruhi, wha..."

"_You IDIOT!" _Haruhi shouted, her anger betraying her in every word. "_How the HELL would that make anything better?!_"

Tamaki stared at her, dumbfounded. "I thought... I mean, we thought it would be easier for you if you had some alone time and-"

"_Alone time? Alone time?! _Are you _kidding me?!_ I just lost my dad, Senpai! I have no family, and somehow you and the others have deluded yourselves into thinking that it would be easier for me to be _alone_ in dealing with my father's death when I haven't even gotten over my mother yet?! Damn it, how many times have you said it since he died? How many times have I been able to hold on to the fact that, _yes, you are my family?_ That, now, you're the ones that care for me more than anyone that's alive now? That you've each tried to help me in your own way, and you've told me you'd _be there for me_, and now you're _leaving me?! _You damn rich bastards just _don't get it, _do you? I don't have anyone else now. There's nothing left for me outside of the club except for lonely, empty memories! You're my family now, you're all I've got! To experience life together, every day, through the highs and lows, the everyday rollercoaster of not-knowing-what-comes-next, and having fun being able to experience it with the people that I love?! _I can't lose any more people that I love!"_

Tamaki stared at her in amazement as the tears racked her body, her face in her hands to cover her tears. "But... we thought you hated the Host Club..."

"Idiot..." she choked out a weak laugh, and then he watched as her eyes fogged over and her knees gave out.

"Haruhi!" he caught her just before she hit the floor, and nearly burnt his hand feeling her forehead. It felt like fire, and her whole face was a hot pink color. He gently lay her down and called for the family doctor thinking, _how could I have been so stupid? _He had been oblivious to more than just her being ill.

**Okay, sooo sorry this took so long to get out! My computer restarted, like, three times (whoohoo, losing data!) and then one of my friends CLOSED OUT OF THE TAB I WAS WRITING ON (...deep breath... ommmm...namaste... inner peace, inner peace...) so, anyway, it kind of got delayed... a lot... I was going to write more but have to get up early and wanted to update, so I hope you enjoyed and please review! Like, really, guys. If you follow and favorite, REVIEW. C'mon... it'll make me happy...I worked really hard on it... please?...**

**Until next time ~**


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